


While You Were Preparing Dinner

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Series: The Destined Duo Saga [6]
Category: xxxHoLic
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Introspective Conversations, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-09 11:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4346432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Watanuki misses all the relevant conversations when he's out of the room.</p><p> </p><p>Either that, or they just all like to talk behind his back.</p><p>[DouWata centric]</p>
            </blockquote>





	While You Were Preparing Dinner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dorotheian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorotheian/gifts).



> This was prompted by [Dorotheian ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorotheian)over on Tumblr! The prompt was conversations between Doumeki and Himawari or Yuuko/etc when Watanuki was in the kitchen or out of the room; I... went a little crazy with it. I hope you like it, and thank you for the prompt! 
> 
> I do not own _xxxHolic_. Thanks for reading!

**1.**

"Doumeki-kun!" Himawari waved from under the sprawling oak tree, drawing the archer's attention. "Watanuki-kun's gone to heat up our lunches, he still hasn't told me what we're having. Do you know?"

"No." Doumeki sat back on his legs, setting his bag beside him.

"I'm sure it's good, Watanuki-kun's food is always good. Right, Doumeki-kun?" Himawari sat down next to him, smiling.

Doumeki assented with a nod. "Yes."

"Can you cook, Doumeki-kun?" she asked, tapping her finger against her cheek. "Have I ever seen you cook?"

"Himawari-chan~ uughh, Doumeki's here, too."

They both looked up at the familiar voice that came calling across the courtyard. Watanuki was balancing three lunches in a way that was not wholly trustworthy, and the scowl on his face would have bothered anyone else except the one it was intended for.

"I can cook," Doumeki replied to Kunogi's question. "But not as good as him," he continued, after a moment.

"Watanuki-kun is a culinary expert," Himawari chirped, just in time for the bespectled teen to hear her.

"Huhh? No, really, Himawari-chan, it's nothing." Watanuki set the boxed lunch down in front of her. "It's a lot easier than it looks, I could show you sometime if you want-"

Doumeki grabbed the thermos from Watanuki's person, screwing the cap off.

"Oi! Don't grab that uninvited!" Watanuki put down the other two boxes with a huff, glaring towards him. "That's rude, you ungrateful brute-"

Doumeki snatched a piece of food from Watanuki's place.

" _Oi_! Don't eat my food, you have one right there!!!"

Himawari chuckled, reaching for her chopsticks. "Doumeki-kun just loves Watanuki-kun's food. You two get along so well~"

" _We do not!"_

**2.**

"Watanuki, we need more saké~" Yuuko said, waving the bottle at him.

"... I'll go get it."

Doumeki and Yuuko watched as Watanuki left the room, without complaint or frantic flapping and exclamations of how little he was appreciated. He just _went_.

"... Is he going to be okay?"

Yuuko looked at Doumeki. "He will," she allowed with a soft smile. "He's a strong child. He has so much to learn, but he's already embarked on that journey. He'll see it through, no matter the suffering."

Expressionless as always, except for the slightest downturn of his lips, Doumeki looked towards the kitchen. "Is there anything..." he trailed off.

Yuuko raised her eyebrows, a silent prompt for Doumeki to continue.

"... I can do?"

Yuuko smiled in the secret sort of way that only Yuuko could.

Watanuki came back with the refill of saké. "Here you go." He set it down on the porch next to her.

Yuuko reached for the bottle and poured it thoughtfully. Then, after taking a sip and looking at Doumeki over the rim of the glass, "Just be yourself".

Watanuki looked at her, and Doumeki, and then back at Yuuko. He didn't speak.

Doumeki was silent for a moment. Then-

"Oi." He held up his glass. "Tea."

Watanuki glared at him for a half second too long before swiping his glass away. " _Honestly_ ," he muttered, turning on heel back to the kitchen.

**3.**

"Watanuki-kun told me that you two went on a job for Yuuko-san last night."

"Yeah."

"Did it go alright?"

"Yeah."

Himawari smiled brightly. "You're always there for Watanuki-kun, aren't you, Doumeki-kun? You two are such good friends."

Doumeki narrowed his eyes slightly. "... Yeah."

Himawari laughed. "Don't look so sullen, Doumeki-kun!" she said, handing him one of Watanuki's previously baked cookies. "Watanuki-kun cares for you more than he says, you know~"

Doumeki looked at the cookie. "Yeah." He looked up at the aforementioned teen as he came into view. "I know."

**4.**

"You're only getting my leftovers!" Watanuki declared. "That's _all_! Just... stay there while I go get it and try not to look too obnoxious!"

Doumeki stood outside Watanuki's door for a lack of invitation, although he wasn't staying, anyway; he had to be on the bus in an hour, and still had to check in at school. The kyudo tournment was away this time.

Something black and round bounced out from Watanuki's open doorway, a tiny little paw and a "Yo!" in greeting.

Doumeki's eyebrows drew together in thought. He looked down at Mokona. "What are you doing here?"

"Yuuko wanted a special recipe, so Mokona's supervising!" Mokona bounced up onto Doumeki's shoulder. "Watanuki had to make your bento first, though. He made it _specially_."

"He did?"

"He was up all night working on it. He said Doumeki needed to have proper nutrition for his tournment. And because of your latest injury."

Doumeki glanced down towards his ribcage. "It doesn't hurt now."

"Watanuki worries."

" _Mokona_ , I told you to stay in the house!" Watanuki stomped into hallway, bento in hand. He shoved it into Doumeki's arm and grabbed Mokona from the archer's shoulder. "I cannot explain your presence and I'm not the type of guy to carry around stuffed animals, so _stay inside or no saké tonight_!"

"Watanuki's so cruel!" Mokona lamented, and wiggled out of Watanuki's grasp to bound back into the apartment.

Watanuki huffed and looked back at Doumeki. "Ugh, are you still here? I thought you had a tournment today. Are you going to be late to that or what?"

**5.**

"Doumeki-kun, you have the _best_ dinner suggestions!" Yuuko praised, licking her lips. "This tebasaki karaage is delicious, and the main meal isn't even finished yet!"

"Yeah." Doumeki reached for another piece of his own.

"We should have bar-styled dinners all the time!"

Doumeki had no reply. He sat eating the karaage that Watanuki had prepared in relative silence - Mokona and Maru and Moro bickering in the kitchen with Watanuki - until he spoke again.

"Why did you have me come to the shop with him today?"

Yuuko paused, and then set her glass aside. She looked towards the front of the shop, eyes narrowed. "... There's a spirit haunting the shop."

Doumeki's eyes slid to follow hers, even if he knew he couldn't see it. "Where?"

"Outside," Yuuko replied, and looked back at him. "It cannot enter. The time has nearly come for it to go away, but I thought it was necessary for you to accompany Watanuki through the gate today."

"So, he won't need my protection after today?"

"He'll always need your protection, Doumeki-kun." Yuuko laughed softly, quietly, and turned back to their food. "But, as far as your inquiry goes, no, he will not need you after today for this particular spirit. That being said, you know that you're welcome, especially if you bring dinner ideas and saké."

"Right."

"You really didn't need to ask that question, though, did you?" Yuuko asked.

Doumeki looked at her critically. Stayed silent.

"Because you'll be by Watanuki's side forever, won't you?"

"Of course."

" _Uuuuuwwwwwwaaaaaaahhh_!" Watanuki came to a sudden stop behind them. "If I have to have _him_ by my side forever, I'll go crazy!"

Doumeki looked up. "You're already crazy."

" _What?!_ Why, you- How dare you say something like that, after I had to slave away in the kitchen to make this ridiculous dinner!"

"You're too loud."

"The lovebirds are at it again~"

"Yeah, they're at it again!"

"Lovebirds, lovebirds~"

"Watanuki-kun and Doumeki-kun are lovebirds~"

"Would you all just _shut up_?!?"

**\+ 1**

Doumeki sighed, pushing the book away. Studying had never particularly been here nor there; he was good with school work and that was that. But entrance exams were a different thing altogether, and the studying was causing a pounding beneath his temples.

He sat up slightly and reached for the ochoko, and then the bottle when he found the cup empty. But it was empty too, and where was Watanuki, anyway? He was meant to be supplying him with snacks. For some reason, his bespectled youth had gone on a cooking spree - only one of a few, unlike with the old days - and Doumeki hadn't been about to say a word. Except, of course, to demand more food.

Dinner had been delicious, and it reminded Doumeki how much he missed Watanuki's cooking. The food was different now. It tasted like sadness. But that was something that Doumeki had to get used to (was still getting used to) because that was something that wasn't ever going to change.

Just like the kimonos and the pipe and the alcohol. Food, always a priority, was suddenly not something of so much importance, in the scheme of things.

But battles. Doumeki would take victories when he could, and Watanuki cooking at all was a victory.

And he was supposed to be bringing him snacks.

It didn't matter, Doumeki supposed, as he pushed himself to his feet. The vertebrae in his spine cracked from hours spent hunched over the low table and of death by all things, Doumeki hadn't expected _college_ to be the thing that would kill him.

"Oi, where's-" He stopped as he rounded the corner into Yuuko's - Watanuki's - kitchen. The black haired forever teen was slumped over the table, half on and half off a half peeled pile of potatoes, fast asleep.

From what Doumeki knew, Watanuki had been cooking even before dawn. It was past nightfall now.

Doumeki huffed a sigh.

"Moron."

He crossed the distance between the door and the table in a few short strides, making quick work of the mess left by Watanuki. The potatoes went into the fridge, most likely to turn brown and rot due to Watanuki's sporadic cooking habits. Doumeki would tell Maru and Moro to prepare them, he thought afterwards.

Without missing a beat, he hoisted Watanuki from the chair and over his shoulder, carrying him back to the bedroom. Watanuki didn't bat an eyelash at this scenario any longer; many times had Doumeki come to the shop to find Watanuki unconscious after wishes gone wrong and done the same thing. It was routine, and yet unnatural.

And Watanuki wasn't usually so thin, and he hadn't ever weighed less, but at least, this time, he wasn't covered in blood or gasping pleas to things that Doumeki couldn't see.

He placed him on Yuuko's - Watanuki's - bed and pulled the covers up around him, reaching to take his glasses off. It was habit that he brushed his fingers against Watanuki's forehead, for the new shopkeeper was prone to sickness far more than any average human, and he removed his hand a moment later to step aside. He twitched the curtains around the bed because it was the way that Watanuki slept now, and turned to leave the room.

Maru and Moro were waiting outside the door.

"Is Watanuki okay?"

"Is he okay?"

Doumeki breathed in slowly. "He's fine. He's just asleep. Don't bother him tonight. There's pancakes he made today in the freezer for his breakfast, tomorrow. He didn't drink today, so he'll want to in the morning."

"'kay!"

Doumeki stepped around the girls with plans to go back to his studies. He would finish up in an hour or two, and then return home.

"Is Doumeki coming back tomorrow?"

"Is Doumeki going to see Watanuki tomorrow?"

He glanced over his shoulder. Nodded. "Yeah."

"Yay!"

The girls clasped hands and danced on the spot, and Doumeki knew that even their footsteps outside of Watanuki's door wouldn't wake him.

"Watanuki's much happier when Doumeki is here~"

"Watanuki's much happier when Doumeki is near~"

They took off running down the hallway, chasing each other with laughter.

Doumeki envied them.

But, only for a moment. He had made his decision, and he wouldn't change it. If he could go back, he still wouldn't. He hadn't been lying when he had told Yuuko he would protect Watanuki for as long as he could, and he couldn't fathom doing anything except that.

He was inordinately drawn to Watanuki the way spirits were to the seer and, unlike others may have chosen, Doumeki wouldn't wish to change that. Ever.

 

**Author's Note:**

> ~~[I can't remember if Mokona uses honorifics I actually don't watch the subs that often but I like honorifics so I try]~~
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> If you've got a prompt, for any of my fandoms, leave a comment or send an ask on Tumblr~


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